On the night of June 5, 2004, Reading Police Department officer Michael Harry Wise II, age 32, was killed in a confusion of gunfire on the 700 block of Schuylkill Avenue. Officer Wise and two undercover colleagues were searching for a suspect from an earlier shooting when a man exited a car and opened fire. Wise and another undercover officer returned fire and an arriving uniformed officer, James M. Palange, mistook the undercover officers for the suspects and ordered one to drop his weapon.

When the undercover officer continued to engage the original shooter, Officer Palange fired four rounds. One round deflected off the undercover car and struck Officer Wise in the head. Wise was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where he died. He had served two years with the department and was survived by his wife and daughter.

The original shooter was apprehended shortly after and later convicted of involuntary manslaughter, receiving a 13.5 to 27 year sentence. Officer Palange was suspended and later dismissed after an investigation found mistaken identity; the widow later settled a civil suit against the city.